The lobster Newburgh dinner was the brightest part of the day for the Crimson ski team yesterday as both the Alpine and Nordic squads finished in the bottom half of the standings at the Middlebury (Vt.) Carnival.

The University of Vermont continued its domination of EISA competition by taking first place in both the downhill and the Cross Country races.

Captain Ben Steele, Harvard's best and most versatile skier, slipped to fourth place in the downhill, just barely qualifying for the NCAA championships at Middlebury on March 8-10.

"I lost a lot of time by edging too much and overturning on the steep parts of the course," Steele said last night. He added that on the second run he almost lost control on the bottom part of the course.

"I was thrown way back and twisted my body around so all the spectators thought I would fall, but I didn't lose too much time because my skis kept tracking downhill," he said.

There were no serious falls in either of yesterday's downhill runs. However, three skiers broke their skis in the practice runs on Thursday, including the Crimson's Bob Beusman.

Coach Peter Carter said that the course was much smoother yesterday than it had been for Thursday's trials.

The trials were necessary because downhill races have not been run in previous EISA carnivals this year.

Dick Raines (16th), Gordon Adler (32nd) and Bob Beusman (36th) also finished for the Crimson. Adler was competing in his first downhill race.

Jon Rikert finished 21st in the Cross Country race, to lead Harvard's Nordic crew. Paul Finnegan and Peter Dillon placed second and third for the Crimson.

Today's events are the slalom and the jumping competition. The prospects that the Crimson will improve in the standings are dim.